On the road to visit Big Brother

Thursday

Feb 26, 2009 at 9:10 AM

Putting a per-mile tax on automobiles to maintain roads because too many people are buying hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles makes as much sense as putting a tax on Nicorette because too many people have stopped smoking.

CYNTHIA STEAD

Putting a per-mile tax on automobiles to maintain roads because too many people are buying hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles makes as much sense as putting a tax on Nicorette because too many people have stopped smoking.

This bright idea is but the latest in the game of Massachusetts transportation taxation Russian toulette.

Our governor is cash-strapped, even with the gazillions of stimulus dollars flowing back to us, and he's already cut the social workers and local aid. As we get money for "shovel-ready" projects, nobody has said what substance we'll be shoveling, so we need to get more road money to hire a shovel wielder to tell us how to spend it.

First, it was the toll hike, or a gas tax; then, a gas tax without a toll hike. Now, it's "Eye in the Sky," and still a gas tax. The newest gas tax incarnation, as filed by the governor, has a clever hidden extra — it links the rate of gas tax to the Consumer Price Index, guaranteeing that the tax can always increase without any more roll call votes, regardless of how many electric cars take to the road. But, this new gas tax is silent on taking down the Mass Pike tolls, so we can perhaps enjoy all three.

When you read the breakdown of how the additional money will be spent, it turns out it's 4 cents for toll rollbacks (not elimination), 6 cents to ensure no cuts in MBTA schedules or fare increases, 1.5 cents to the regional transit authorities (go, B-Bus!), 1.5 cents to "targeted regional road projects," and 3 cents to rail projects. Almost none of the new tax will benefit those in rural areas without public transportation — exactly the ones who need to drive, not only for commuting, but just to go five miles to get a loaf of bread.

When "Eye in the Sky" is implemented, no longer will you escape taxation by being a green citizen and driving a Prius. Gov. Patrick may just be anticipating a federal effort being floated by the Obama administration. The so-called VMT (vehicle miles tax) would require all cars and trucks to have a chip embedded in the inspection sticker, equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a clock (the better to charge you for "peak time"), and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven on highways or secondary roads.

Perhaps the best way to get the president to drop the chip is to tell him that Dick Cheney thinks it is a fine idea. The same progressive element that had a fit over "eavesdropping" to try to intercept terrorist plans on disposable cell phones is largely silent on this because it comes from their president, and they know that he's trustworthy.

They point to the pilot plan in Oregon, and say that the tracking element, indicating where a person has gone in addition to how far, has been disabled and no record is kept of an individual's travel route. But "is not" doesn't mean "cannot"; the FBI guarded the privacy of dossiers on prominent individuals from partisan spying — until Hillary Clinton asked for them.

Where does it all end? How much is enough? We have pay-per-throw, pay-per-flush, and now pay-per-mile. Perhaps a pay-per-breath carbon dioxide tax to enable government to reach its end result — a means of gathering money on every human activity, no matter how private, to feed the gaping, insatiable beast that government is mutating into, a pay-for-prey monster.

It isn't all that often that you find Barbara Anderson and Senate President Therese Murray on the same page, but this is one of those times. Both have stated that the best way to handle the proposed gas tax hike is to accomplish the mergers of transportation departments, decide on toll revenues, ascertain the size of pensions and debt and then act in accordance with the actual debt needed. It is to be hoped that the state will accept this eminently sensible plan before raising the gas tax or implementing the chip solution. Solve — or at least define — the problems we have instead of wasting energy and argument establishing a hybrid solution for road maintenance.

Cynthia Stead serves as Cape and Islands State Republican Committeewoman. E-mail her at cestead@gmail.com.

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